DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR FOOD DEHYDRATOR USING QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

Abstract

Post-harvest losses of fruits in Pakistan remain significantly high due to a lack of efficient and affordable preservation technologies. This paper presents the complete design and development of a hybrid IoT-enabled solar food dehydrator using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology. Customer needs (Voice of the Customer) and their relative importance are identified through customer surveys. Customer needs are converted into prioritized technical specifications. A relationship matrix is developed between customer needs and technical specification via the House of Quality (HoQ). That is followed by the concept generation, concept selection, where a detailed new model for the solar food dehydrator is presented. A solar dehydrator optimized for user, which reduces postharvest losses, increases dry efficiency, and provides a top solution for small farmers and rural families are the outcomes of this model.